My morning meditation was very interesting this morning. I bought a new “Guided Journeying” meditation CD by Colleen Deatsman over the weekend. I was at a festival where Colleen gave an informal lecture on an Introduction to Shamanism. It was a good and informative talk that my husband, son and I all enjoyed. Part of the talk included one of the meditations on the CD, and my son especially enjoyed that part, so we bought the it.

Previously, in my personal meditations, I hadn’t really worked with many animal guides. Now that I think about it, though, that’s maybe a bit odd since I have such a love for animals. Anyway, the interesting thing about this morning’s meditation is that I think I had a visit with my so very much missed Cheyenne, but she wasn’t a dog. I know our loved ones can take different forms in our dreams and meditations, and I think she did this knowing I would probably become upset at seeing her true form.

My son has had several dreams where Cheyenne has visited him, but I’ve had nothing, and frankly I was getting a bit jealous. I mean, she was my baby! But, as we know, our emotions can hinder spiritual contact, and my emotions where she is concerned are still a bit raw.

So, here’s what happened … When I did the meditation at the festival, the first animal guide who met me was a rabbit, so I expected to see the rabbit – which I did. However, I could sense another presence, too. Part of me wanted to just go along with the rabbit, but my curiosity kept my mind open. I saw something black, and then a long tail came into view. It was a cat’s tail but too thick to be a domestic cat and too small to be a big cat. As the figure came into view, I realized it was a baby panther. Right away, I noticed the edges of the panther were fuzzy which I thought was odd, but I went along with it. At the festival, one of my guides was a shapeshifter, so I kept my mind open without expectations. The panther was playful and jumped up on me exactly like Cheyenne used to do. Even the way the animal turned it’s head back to look at me reminds me of my beautiful girl. The panther did it’s job and led me where I needed to go. Then I met my next guide and the meditation continued.

The oddest and maybe ironic part of all this was that I didn’t even think about Cheyenne during the meditation. I was completely consumed by the “panther”. It wasn’t until I came back to myself and opened my eyes that my brain caught up to itself and just about leapt out of my head. I can’t wait to go back and find out for sure whether or not the panther was really Cheyenne. Was that why the edges of the panther were fuzzy? Because it wasn’t really a panther? Anyone who knows me at all knows I love cats, especially big cats, and the panther is definitely my favorite! The size and shape of the panther was quite close to hers as well. Very interesting for sure!!!

By the way, if anyone is interested in learning more about Shamanism, check out Colleen Deatsman. She is the author of five books, her newest being “The Hollow Bone” which is basically an introduction to Shamanism. She also now has a very reasonably priced home study course on Shamanism.